The Training in Mission Programme (TIM) – Diploma in Mission Studies is a Council for World Mission (CWM) programme that provides opportunities for young adults to learn about Christian mission through theory and practice via classes, exposure visits, projects, and hands-on work in various regional contexts.
A programme that has been established for over 40 years, it is a TIM hallmark that graduates are equipped with leadership skills that put them in good stead for service to the church and God’s mission.
The 2024 intake recently gathered 10 participants from the various CWM regions for an immersion trip in the Philippines, constituting the last leg of the programme which began as a series of online classes. The participants were selected to achieve an optimal gender and regional representation.
The immersion trip in the Philippines saw the young students spending two weeks in the Union Theological Seminary. Throughout their stay, students were introduced to five key principles that form the backbone of Christian missiology – Tell, Teach, Tend, Transform, and Treasure.
They were also introduced to the rich heritage of the Union Theological Seminary and had the opportunities to partake in local activities such as the “Laksamba” (prayer walk) and learning about useful, colloquial phrases in Filipino.
Being residents at the seminary also enabled the students to glean a clearer perspective of the local contextual challenges to sustainability and self-sufficiency through exposures to initiatives such as groundwater extraction and local food productions that espoused the importance of reducing carbon footprints.
Communal living also meant that the 10 students have to quickly learn about the value of cooperation and mutual respect in order to cultivate a spirit of harmony in a shared environment – furthering their development in training to be future church workers and leaders who would thrive as they serve in God’s varied mission fields.
This story is reproduced and adapted from the Training in Mission (TIM) newsletter, Mission Chronicles, a bi-weekly publication produced by CWM TIM 2024 participants.
Here is Issue 1, Mission Chronicles, 19 July 2024